French ex-minister who fought tax evasion jailed for tax fraud

[WorldNews]

By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - A former minister who led a French government crackdown on tax evasion was sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday for hiding an offshore bank account of his own, in a scandal that deeply embarrassed President Francois Hollande. A Paris court found Jerome Cahuzac, a cosmetic surgeon by trade who was made budget minister when Hollande won power in 2012, guilty of tax fraud and money laundering. The verdict marks the end of a saga that shocked France and shook Hollande, who promised as he took power that his government would be beyond reproach after years of corruption accusations that dogged his predecessors.

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